Redefining Clinical Science Training

Abstract

The Delaware Project, initiated in a conference at the University of Delaware, aims to redefine psychological clinical science training in ways that emphasize continuity across a spectrum of intervention development activities ranging from basic research to implementation and dissemination. The project generated specific recommendations for elevating dissemination and implementation, both at different stages of clinical science training and in different training settings, and highlighted several experiential training innovations to foster this goal. The project also helped sharpen competing priorities of two broad approaches to intervention science: one emphasizing translation, or moving from basic research to systematic applications in practice, and the other privileging dissemination–implementation per se, where a priority is understanding and maximizing the accessibility, acceptability, adaptability, and sustainability of interventions in the contexts where practitioners deliver them. The training of future clinical scientists will be crucial to reconciling these perspectives on how best to address significant public health problems.